Hot Topic Heppell calls for patience

BrunoV

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May 5, 2009
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Im with you to an extent, but not so much the endorsed media, its social media that bugs me...

They all have a team of marketing/digital media people who earn a living trying to interact with people and gain clicks and likes and that elusive viral post - to me it makes them far to overzealous, they just post stuff for laughs, they go over the top, they are making mini serials and all this rubbish - even worse when they start interacting with other teams social media departments - its cringe worthy.

less it more.

Just be informative.


I think this is an area that Worsfold completely missmanages.

Too bad if it's not his style becausr far too much is left to people who dont know what message to communicate and if they do they're incapable.

It seems to me that social media and marketing are what is left to control messaging and then we end up with unrealistic expectations determining the way we are covered.

Then when Worsfold does say stuff it's largely useless and occasionally nonsensical.

It's his problem really because if things turn ugly those expectations will be what causes the board to act.
 
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Dec 14, 2008
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I think this is an area that Worsfold completely missmanages.

Too bad if it's not his style becausr far too much is left to people who dont know what message to communicate and if they do they're incapable.

It seems to me that social media and marketing are what is left to control messaging and then we end up with unrealistic expectations determining the way we are covered.

Then when Worsfold does say stuff it's largely useless and occasionally nonsensical.

It's his problem really because if things turn ugly those expectations will be what causes the board to act.


Yep, I just think its a clunky way to communicate - everything is dialed up to the max on social media, its like you need to shout to be heard, you need to say more hyperbolic stuff to be seen - next minute, that's the message that the club is portraying, no lids.

Its a different story but I follow Chelsea in England, we had a run of poor results, couldn't score a goal, no decent strikers, the manager is calling for calm but is right under pressure, club trying to calm matters and fan expectations.... go on FB or twitter and the social media department is making jokes, poking the opposition, posting clips of the goals we scored last year against the very same tem we just lot to...posting clips of the goals our loanees are scoring for other clubs..

its like they are disconnected from reality, they are in their own bubble of hunting likes and viral posts and laughs.

sure have a social media dept, but make sure they are in tune with what the rest of the club are doing
 
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Oraaaaazio

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i don’t think he was ever quoted as actually calling for patience but you’re right- he is making excuses for a slow start to the season... again. it’s pretty piss poor.

he’s not a great captain. a “bonza bloke” sure, but he shouldn’t be captain.
bloody shockin captain old dys the ole knacka!! hasn't even bloody rocked up for captains day the ol shagga ey! bloody took a wrong turn, gone walkabout!
 

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Now I don't know about you guys but as a supporter base I think we've been plenty patient over the years. I'm not sure Hepp has really said the right things here, you've got a supporter base that's stood by the club through off field hell, do you really have to call for patience?

Maybe I'm pessimistic but that to me sounds like the captain of the club is already making excuses and we haven't even got to round 1. Doesn't fill me with any confidence going into the season.

Thoughts? Am I reading to much into it?

It is what I am expecting. We have been terrible as far as team defence goes for too many years to talk about. They bring in a new team defence coach at the end of last season so yes there are going to be issues with the team picking it up.
Supporters just get wound up in the media hype. I am not expecting much more than last season. Some of our key players are the biggest offenders as far as poor team defence goes.
I am dreading the meltdown when a lot realise we are not yet premiership material.
 
Following the Tigers template? Implementing their system? However you want to think of it, it doesn't count for s**t if there is no pressure and we are getting pounded in the middle.

It's one of the few useful observations Hird made about the game in 2015 (it's not like media was interested in his thoughts on footy by that time).

Pressure is the foundation of any game plan. The game plan, and our attempts to adapt it, cannot have anything to do with JLT performances in which we put no pressure on the ball.

If Heppell wants to throw out some bullshit about structure or a game plan, it would be nice if someone who was there had the knowledge to call him out.

I dont even understand how you're supposed to learn a defensive system without pressure. Positioning will change for mids and defenders when there is pressure compared to when there is none. Everyone can be proactive knowing the opposition ball movement is restricted by pressure. Everything is linked.

Maybe Rutten has forgotten to coach pressure?

Or maybe we have a few offenders who continue to play their own game.......
 
No issue with what Hepp said which is totally separate from my view that he’s a poor, inconsistent captain who doesn’t take public responsibility for his own bad games and blames it on the team. Hope he is different this year.
 

hurlygurdy

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I'm always positive, so this is unfamiliar territory but here goes. I think this team struggles with an identity. Perhaps its because pre-drugs we stood for unimpeachable integrity and that had been the identity for decades. Then the last few years we were the come back team which i guess was good enough as a make shift concept.
But who are we now? New players have chosen to come to us, so that says something about Heppell's ability to talk the talk behind closed doors, but i don't see evidence of it either on the field or in the media. To me, we look like a team that strives individually for success which is inevitable without a team identity.
If i was Woosha, i would tell the players before running out for round one that i expected to lose this game because too many players still valued their own success higher than the teams (true or not). I'd then say that playing for your team mates was going to be the number one factor at the selection table until we had a team that knew no other way. Out of that you get an identity that writes itself.
 
Oct 1, 2006
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“Heppell also said it was imperative that Essendon brought the same kind of pressure and intensity around the ball on a consistent basis which served them so well in the final two-thirds of the 2018 season.”

This is the part that is so annoying, we’ve done a lot of trying to put a square peg in a round hole to mitigate our weaknesses but it wouldn’t need to be the case if we’d drafted naturally aggressive midfielders.

Obviously nothing we can do about it now but how long has this board been demanding more inside midfield representation. I’d love to hear Dodoros opinion on this one day cause surely it isn’t an accident.
 
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There has been some talk from people like Woosha that we will see players like Walla and Fantasia run through the middle, considering how we played in the JLT its possible that come round 1 that is how we will look different. I am guessing but at each centre bounce we will have four or five usual mids out of Shiel, Smith, Merrett, Hepp, Langford, Mcgrath, Zaka, Myers, and Parish with Walla, Fantasia and Stringer rotating as the burst player. This kind of set up would be different and potentially more potent than anything we saw during the JLT.
 

Heppell said if players don't want to play as a team and pull their weight then we have plenty of good players in the vfl that are doing what we expect of them playing good footy that can come in straight away. He said we had too many passengers today from memory. He was pretty filthy. I only seen the game in bits and pieces but Heppell had a bad start himself unable to hit a barn shed with his kicks. He also said too much hand ball to stationary players.
 

ghostdog

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“Heppell also said it was imperative that Essendon brought the same kind of pressure and intensity around the ball on a consistent basis which served them so well in the final two-thirds of the 2018 season.”

This is the part that is so annoying, we’ve done a lot of trying to put a square peg in a round hole to mitigate our weaknesses but it wouldn’t need to be the case if we’d drafted naturally aggressive midfielders.

Obviously nothing we can do about it now but how long has this board been demanding more inside midfield representation. I’d love to hear Dodoros opinion on this one day cause surely it isn’t an accident.
This is why Operation SPP is on the DL. Shhhh...
 

Liberator

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Oct 24, 2014
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That there is the burden of proof discharged in the modern age... Just chains of nuffies linked together in self-supporting linkery (not calling you a nuffie adsla69k BTW)
 
That there is the burden of proof discharged in the modern age... Just chains of nuffies linked together in self-supporting linkery (not calling you a nuffie adsla69k BTW)

I’m certain that the quote is accurate which is why I won’t bother tracking down the interview file. Tbh I don’t have a high enough care factor to be bothered.

Anyway I don’t need to prove anything because it’s just my opinion based on what I believe is something Heppell has said.
 

JayJ20

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I just think the club talks too much. They put all these expectations on themselves for hype and memberships. Just shut up for once, put in the work and explain what you did once you achieve success.
 
Apr 11, 2002
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I'm always positive, so this is unfamiliar territory but here goes. I think this team struggles with an identity. Perhaps its because pre-drugs we stood for unimpeachable integrity and that had been the identity for decades. Then the last few years we were the come back team which i guess was good enough as a make shift concept.
But who are we now? New players have chosen to come to us, so that says something about Heppell's ability to talk the talk behind closed doors, but i don't see evidence of it either on the field or in the media. To me, we look like a team that strives individually for success which is inevitable without a team identity.
If i was Woosha, i would tell the players before running out for round one that i expected to lose this game because too many players still valued their own success higher than the teams (true or not). I'd then say that playing for your team mates was going to be the number one factor at the selection table until we had a team that knew no other way. Out of that you get an identity that writes itself.

Not that we were alone (now where have I heard that before:think:) but unfortunately salary cap breaches undermine any such claim. EFC is a great club with a great history but it also has baggage, we cant pretend it doesnt. It's a ruthless industry & most if not all successful clubs have overstepped boundaries at some point. Some get caught, some get away with it.

I'm with you on identity though, not sure I can pinpoint what it is these days. I'd love to see some mongrel back in the team, Devon Smith pushes that boundary & while he may not be captain material, I wouldn't mind someone of his ilk taking over in the near future. & that's my only critisism of Heppell, dunno if he has that in him.
 
I’m certain that the quote is accurate which is why I won’t bother tracking down the interview file. Tbh I don’t have a high enough care factor to be bothered.
Okay thanks for the clarification.
Anyway I don’t need to prove anything because it’s just my opinion based on what I believe is something Heppell has said.
And ftr I wasn't asking you to in that way.. like a challenge. It just seemed out of character the way you described it.
 
Okay thanks for the clarification.

And ftr I wasn't asking you to in that way.. like a challenge. It just seemed out of character the way you described it.

No dramas. I sometimes come across as more arrogant in the written form than I mean to.
 
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